Path to a Better Tomorrow

Posted by cservaes on September 19, 2011 in Alumni, "Kansas City"
In December 2006, Scott Roth was waiting for answers from a doctor. He was nervous and frightened. His soon-to-be-born son was in distress and the doctors wanted to go in for an emergency delivery. Then his phone rings, once, twice, three times. “I wouldn’t have answered, but they called me three times back-to-back, so I thought it had to be important,” says Roth. Little did Roth know that one phone call during one of the most frightening times of his life would help to change everything. Roth still didn’t know his mother had signed him up for a radio contest that would afford him three expensive items – a 2006 Chevy Cobalt from CarSmart; a $2,000 laptop from BestBuy... and a fouryear scholarship to Ottawa University’s Kansas City Campus. And he certainly didn’t know he had won the contest. “I thought it was some kind of scam,” says Roth. “So the next morning, after my son was born healthy and happy, I called back to find out the full details.” Four years and 128 credit hours later, Roth completed his degree in psychology and graduated from Ottawa University. The contest, dubbed “Path to a Better Tomorrow,” ran from November 20 to December 16, 2006, on a variety of radio stations in the Kansas City area. Listeners could nominate someone for the contest; then OU officials narrowed down the nominations to four finalists. Roth was nominated by his mother, who said he was a hard-working, ambitious, young family man with three children. At the time, Roth was working in maintenance on pools and spas, trying to take care of his family, but struggling nonetheless. Today, Roth said his future is completely different. He plans to pursue a master’s degree in psychology. “I honestly don’t know where I’d be without these gifts, but I do know I wouldn’t be a graduate from college,” says Roth. “My experience at Ottawa University was incredible, to say the least. I learned so much about myself in those four years. It is a time I will never forget.” Roth graduated from OU-KC during the annual commencement ceremony on May 21.